When he awoke, it was not to warmth, not to shelter, not even to the whispers of a mother’s song. He was falling.

  From the sky itself. The stars, distant and uncaring, blurred as he plummeted toward the earth. The wind tore at his clothes, screamed in his ears, and stole the breath from his lungs. Panic clawed its way up his throat, and he thrashed against the air as if that might save him.

  The earth struck him like a hammer.

  He hit the ground hard, broken and bruised, the impact muffled only by the endless sea of coarse red sand. For a moment, he didn’t move. The pain from his broken bones was all but debilitating. Stars wheeled above him, and the chill of the night settled into his skin.

  When he finally pushed himself upright, coughing and shaking, there was no sound but the wind. No birds. No voices. No signs of life, just the endless desert, vast and uncaring, lit by a moon pale as bone.

  He had no memory of how he got here. No memory at all, in fact.

  He yelled aloud for help. Nothing answered. No crumbling sand giving way to feet in the distance. No banners on the horizon. Only wind, sand, and silence. He rose slowly. His legs ached, arms hurt from being broken, his mind reeled. He chose a direction and walked, only death awaited him if he stayed. If not the cold from the night, then the heat during the day.

  The desert was silent once more, save for the whispers of the wind across the sand. Aeren, The name suddenly came to him, He didn’t know why it had come to him, but the name felt wrong on his tongue, as though it were a lie. But it was all he had for now, so he held on to it.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  His legs were heavy, his steps slower with each passing moment. The biting wind no longer felt sharp, it had become a dull ache that gnawed at his bones. His eyes grew heavy, and the sand underfoot seemed to shift in rhythm with his exhaustion. The horizon never seemed to come closer, no matter how long he walked.

  I need to find something. Anything.

  But the horizon remained unchanged.

  As the hours dragged on, he began to feel the weight of his solitude. The emptiness of the desert was a disheartening view, a present and constant reminder that he had nothing, no memories, no clothing, and no food. His body begged for rest, but his mind screamed at him to keep moving, to not give in.

  But soon, even the scream of his thoughts dulled.

  As the first light of dawn began to creep over the horizon, bright but distant, His feet finally gave way. His breath caught in his chest, his knees gave way, and he fell to the ground. The sand softened his fall if anything, but it seemed to mock him. His hands dug into it, but the sand kept slipping away, like he was losing himself piece by piece.

  He collapsed into the desert, just as the first slivers of dawn broke through the dark sky, casting long shadows of the dunes across the land.

  So this is it. The thought flashed through his mind like a whisper. This is where I die.

  But even as his body gave in, there was something inside him that refused to believe it. A faint spark of defiance, a pull toward something unknown, something waiting just beyond his reach.

  He closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the rising sun wash over him, hoping that whatever lay ahead would be enough to answer the questions that plagued him.